Newbie home theatre question

Posted by: Abbey-Crunch on 14 April 2006

I have steered clear of home cinema so far as I wanted to put any available cash into the main system to maximise it's capabilities.

I am now starting to think about adding surround sound but know nothing about it. I have dipped in to the Naim Home Theatre Forum but having been brought up on two channel I find the technology slightly baffling.

My current system is CDS2/552/500 + B&W 802s.

If I add a surround sound capability it will be for occasional use and I want it to be simple to set up. The n-Vi looks like a good solution (when they sort it out).

I have a few questions:

- Can someone give me a very simple explanation of of how an n-Vi connects up with my main system so I can use the B&Ws as the front speakers?

- What speakers should I look at for the rear? I would like to keep with B&W.

- Do I need to have to have a front centre speaker? (I don't want to add one particularly).
Posted on: 14 April 2006 by neil w
hi andrew

your system is the same as mine bar cds2 i have the 3
the nvi i believe has pre-outs which will hook into the av input on your 552 this allows you to use your 802,s and the volume cotrolled by the nvi
with regards to rears you should be looking at nautilus 803 (used) or 804s (new)
you really need a center , its the most important speaker in your 5:1 set up and should be looking at htm1(used) or htm2d / htm3 new
i use the htm2d as my center and it works really well with the 802s
good luck

neil
Posted on: 19 April 2006 by Frank Abela
Andrew,

You'd plug the preout output of the n-Vi into your A/V input on the 552. The AV input should be set for Unity Gain so it acts as a straight pass through, allowing the n-Vi to act as main volume control for surround sound (good thing too otherwise you'd never be able to control the relative levels). The interconnect between n-Vi and 552 is a standard Naim lavender interconnect as far as I know.

The rears should be SCMSs, DS7's or DS8's. The 8s are more money but perfectly matched to your speakers. The 7s are less money and very good too. Since the surround is a sideshow, the 7s will be enough. Both 7s and 8s are dipole designs which makes them far less obvious than usual speakers such as the SCMS.

Don't miss out on the centre if possible. I know a lot of people say 4 channel is good enough etc, but the fact is that having a centre channel does make a big difference to the results. Once again, the best is to timbre match so go with a B&W centre if possible. The perfect match is the HTM3S but I wouldn't be surprised if you said this was just way too big to fit and I wonder if it might be a bit much for an n-Vi to cope with. Look at others from B&W such as the HTM4S, CT8CC, LCR600S3 or LCR60S3.
Posted on: 19 April 2006 by AV@naim
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Abela:

The interconnect between n-Vi and 552 is a standard Naim lavender interconnect as far as I know.


Correct. Reverse interconnect only used on AV2 "AN3" input as it is dual use.
Posted on: 20 April 2006 by Phil Cork
I have a question on a related topic.

I've seen some pictures (i thought they were on the Naim web site, but can't find them now) of the Naim n-Cent on the 'middle' shelf of a Fraim.

Surely this can't be right? Going through all that trouble to isolate the components from feedback and then sticking a speaker in the rack??

Phil
Posted on: 20 April 2006 by rackkit
I think it was only for the sake of a pretty picture. Can't see where else they (The snapper) would have put it.

I'd post the pic but can only do so on HiFiCorner for some strange reason. Confused
Posted on: 21 April 2006 by Abbey-Crunch
Frank, thanks for the ideas - very useful. I have had a look at the speakers on the B&W website and have started to think.

Now all I need to do is work out whether I want to do this or not!

Andrew